Thursday, September 17, 2009

The God Chronicles - 09/18/09

Have you seen the hand of God in your life lately? Joel 1:2-3 instructs us to tell the next generation the stories of God's faithfulness in our lives. That's what The God Chronicles is all about. I would be honoured if you joined me. Just write your own post for TGC, link to this post in your writing, then come back here and add your name and your post's URL to Mr. Linky at the bottom.

And here are a few instructions for those who like to follow the step-by-step.

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For this one, I am going to need to take you back a ways. Right to the beginning of this year, when I prayed that the Lord would unsettle me. I knew it was a dangerous prayer, but I was wildly ready for anything He might toss my way.

And somewhere in that first part of this year Pat shared with me that he was sensing a change on the horizon. We attended the BreakForth conference together and came home expecting BIG things.

Then we went about our lives as usual.

I remembered my prayer for the new year when it was convenient, but mostly I let myself forget about it. You see, I don't actually do well with change. I like consistency, stability, predictability.

A few short weeks ago, God reminded me of my desire to be unsettled. He said, "You don't want to have all this normalcy, do you? It's so....boring. Why not come on an adventure with Me? Why don't you show people that your faith isn't just something you say, it's something you do."

I replied, "Um, no thanks God. I'm good. I'm not bored at all. Life is so perfectly settled right now; I'd rather not change."

The moment those words came out, I head the phrase "unsettle me" echoing in my soul.

Our family will be moving soon. Not just to a new house, but to a new city with new schools and a new church. We are brought there by a new job, one that promises a whole new life for our family. At this new job, Daddy will be home every.single.night for supper. He will have a long weekend to spend with us every.second.week. He will not be called to work out of town for weeks on end - in fact, he will not be called to work out of town EVER.

Today we are in the midst of the sloppy business of moving forward, with the excitement and adventure of the new ahead, and the sorrow of leaving so much good behind. Man, does it ever hurt to let go of GOOD things! The only thing that helps is to know that when God asks us to do that, He already has even BETTER things on the horizon. And there is comfort in knowing that rather than just leaving all this love behind, we will actually end up with two homes where we are loved. A new one and the old one. A double-blessing.

In this process, God's handiwork has been evident in a million small and large ways:

- the peace we had with making a very fast decision; the encouragement and words of affirmation from other believers

- the fact that I asked God to show confirmation for this decision by making it possible to keep our house here and rent it out, and He did

- the first house we looked at was not only good for our family, but it had a whole bunch of features that Pat and I had only dreamed of (three living rooms, a den/office, a large attached garage, a veranda, an eat-in kitchen and a dining room, a fireplace, oodles of bathrooms, a jet tub); honestly, at first I felt that we should not even consider this house because it was so much of what we wanted, that I was certain we didn't deserve it - funny thing about God, though, is that He likes to give good gifts to His children just because

- we closed the deal on that house tonight, and though the steps along the way were not bump-free, they were relatively quick and easy

- finding a Christian program within the public schools that is totally FREE

- knowing that the ministry I love - my baby - is in the best hands of the most amazing, competent, Godly, visionary team of women

- and many more.

I don't know why God is moving us. But I do know that He is answering a decade-long prayer of ours for Pat to have a job that provides well but doesn't have him away. And I am certain that He has a plan for friends, schools, a church family, a home (not just a house), and more. I believe that sometimes God calls us to do really difficult things so that we are stretched and moved closer to Him, and so that our faith in His goodness and His provision can grow. I fully trust Him to take care of us, our friends, our family, and our ministries - and I believe that He even has a BETTER thing in store for each of them.

It won't be easy. Change is difficult, scary even. We will be like foreigners in a new country. It could end up feeling a bit like a desert for a while. So as we walk I will tilt my head to the sky, and I will follow the Pillar of Cloud that goes ahead of me, showing the way.

1 comment:

Wow, God is SO good!!! I am in the midst of praying for our own miracles. I love how God provided for you. Your whole story just made me cry. I know that He is able to do this for us too, but I don't know if He will. I have been praying for years for God to move us south, into a bigger home, give Jeff a different job and make us a close family. I have come to think that maybe He just might never do these things. Your story has encouraged me to not stop praying about them. Thank you for sharing. I needed to read about what God is still doing.

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God says, "These things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, these things will sure come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day! ~ Habakkuk 2:3 (LB)